This post is from our team serving in Thailand this week. They are working with Brook Hills’ members and Long-Term missionaries The Martins. Follow this team as they teach English classes and engage Thai students with the gospel.


Written by: Elizabeth Comeaux

Last night we got to go with Pastor Han (the minister we’re working with here) to a village a couple of hours north of where we’re staying in Thailand. After quite a bumpy ride, we arrived and joined with some local Thai believers to help pass out Christian materials to the villagers and invite them to a worship service we were hosting later that evening.

I walked with Pai, Gaia and Tsa, three girls from the area. Pai is 26 years old and has 3 sisters and 1 brother. She is the only Christian in her family, which makes family gatherings difficult and leaves her feeling sad for her family. She longs for them to know Christ. I encouraged her to never stop sharing the gospel with her family. Dwight mentioned that families of a believer are 70% more likely to come to faith than families with no followers of Christ. Gaia and Tsa are much younger, but they, too, are the only believers in their family. Pai seemed to have taken them under her wing. Please pray that God will lead their families to Christ.

We walked throughout the village passing out our books and inviting folks to the service. Everyone was so kind. I was doubtful there would be many people that would show up, but I was surprised. There were well over 50-60 people who showed up. It surprised me even more when they stayed until 11pm! God is so good! Watching Pastor Han preach was a treat. Although the words are foreign, his passion for Christ is clear and contagious. I pray that God brings up someone to follow in his footsteps to continue to preach the Word to the next generation in these small villages. Churches are growing faster than the birthrate here, so please pray that workers will be raised up to help continue to spread the gospel.

Ok, so here’s the key to hosting these village services. You have to have the permission of the village leader in order to host a service. There was a man a while back who became a Christian in another village, but the church that had come through didn’t clear things with the village leader beforehand. He told the new believer he couldn’t be a Christian and took away all of the Christian reading material the church gave him. Later on a group came through who passed out information about God, and he shared with them that he’d been waiting for a Bible for 40 years. It is so important that we come alongside the local churches and pastors here, and it is so important that we understand the community customs and honor them.

We were encouraged this week because in January, at another village, the leader there told his community afterwards to consider what they’d heard that evening and that it was very important information. Amazing! We pray that God stirred enough hearts last night that maybe some house churches can eventually be started.